''Thomas Powell'' was a fast and popular steamboat built in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1846 for service on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. She ran between New York City and various Hudson River destinations during her career, including Newburgh, Piermont,

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

Rondout Rondout may refer to some places and buildings in the United States: In Illinois: * Rondout, Illinois In New York: *Rondout, New York, a village located on the north side of Rondout Creek near its mouth on the Hudson River in Ulster County *Rondou ...

, Catskill, and finally as a nightboat to

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

. She also ran on the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

for some years in the 1850s, and during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

served as a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

dispatch boat. ''Thomas Powell'' was considered one of the fastest, if not the fastest, of the Hudson River steamers of her time, capable of speeds in excess of . Her speed, excellent accommodations and good management made her a favorite with the traveling public, and consequently, she retained her original name to the end of her career. Her last known trip was made in 1879 and she was scrapped in 1881.

Construction and design

In 1846, Thomas Powell, a prominent businessman of

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

, and his son-in-law Homer Ramsdell, ordered a new steamboat to replace Powell's ''Highlander'', which had been running on the New York–to–Newburgh route since 1836.Heyl 1965. p. 318.Morrison 1903. pp
158–159
The new steamboat was named ''Thomas Powell'' after her part-owner. ''Thomas Powell'', a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamer, was built by Lawrence & Sneden of

, New York,Heyl 1965. p. 317. under the supervision of her future captain, Samuel Johnson. She was long, with a beam of , draft of and hold depth of Morrison 1903. p
159
Her registered tonnage was 585. A

bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

of her namesake was mounted on the

pilot house The interior of the bridge of the Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska">RV_Sikuliaq.html" ;"title="Research Vessel ''RV Sikuliaq">Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska file:Wheelhouse of Leao Dos Mares.jpg, Wheelhouse on a tugboat, topp ...

roof.Dayton 1925. p
57
''Thomas Powell'' was powered by a single-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

vertical beam engine with bore of ,

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

of , and steam cut-off set at . Steam was supplied by two boilers, one on each guard in accordance with the prevailing fashion, at a working pressure of , and fuel consumption was two tons of

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the high ...

per hour. Both the engine and boilers were built by T. F. Secor & Co. of New York. The water wheels had a diameter of and a paddle length of .

Service history

Newburgh service 1846–1848

thumb , 1846 oil painting of ''Thomas Powell'' by James Bard. Compare the solid es in this image with the latticed design (see photo above) later adopted. ''Thomas Powell'' made her maiden voyage from New York to Newburgh on 30 April 1846. She thereafter maintained a regular schedule, departing from Warren Street, New York, for Newburgh at 4 pm Monday through Saturday, with intermediate stops at Van Courtland's Dock,

Peekskill Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, Cold Spring and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. Return trips from Newburgh departed at 6:30 am Monday and 7 am Tuesday through Saturday. The steamer did not operate on Sundays. ''Thomas Powell''s excellent passenger accommodations, exceptional speed and good management quickly made her a favorite with the traveling public. On 18 June, she went from New York to Cauldwell's—a distance—in just 2 hours, reaching Newburgh 40 minutes later, the average speed over the total distance being . On 16 August, the steamer went from New York to Newburgh, a distance of —including five intermediate stops totalling 20 minutes—in 3 hours 6 minutes, at an average speed of just under , reinforcing her reputation as one of the fastest boats on the Hudson. The steamboat ''Niagara'' One boat considered a possible rival to ''Thomas Powell'' in terms of speed at this time was ''Mountaineer'', a steamer of about the same size and tonnage that had entered service the same year. In July, ''Mountaineer'' had easily beaten ''Thomas Powell''s predecessor ''Highlander'', and opinion was divided as to which of the two newer boats was faster. On 13 August, ''Mountaineer'' departed Hammond Street, New York, some minutes earlier than usual, and thus came within sight of ''Thomas Powell'' as the two boats made their way to Peekskill. Approaching

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

, ''Mountaineer'' was about two miles behind ''Thomas Powell'', but reportedly put on "a great head of steam" and appeared to be catching her rival when a loud explosion occurred and she was enveloped in a cloud of steam. ''Thomas Powell''s captain immediately put his vessel about to go to the aid of the stricken steamer, which had blown a sheet from her steam chimney. Several passengers and crew who were scalded in the accident were taken aboard ''Thomas Powell'', along with the other passengers, for the completion of their passages. ''Thomas Powell'' continued to operate between New York and Newburgh in the 1847 season, her owners renting a berth at Warren Street for the sum of $2,000 annually. On June 8, the steamer reportedly completed the journey from New York to Newburgh in 3 hours flat, with a total running time of 2 hours 35 minutes, at an average of —a speed said by a contemporaneous journal to be obtainable by "few boats, and very few railroads" in the country at the time. The following month, the steamboat ''Niagara'' was on her way from New York to Albany when a steam component gave way about north of the city, causing an explosion that reportedly killed two of the boat's engineers and scalded several passengers. The steamboats ''Roger Williams'' and ''Thomas Powell'' were quickly on the scene, the former taking most of the passengers aboard, including some with milder injuries, for completion of their journey to Albany. ''Thomas Powell'' in the meantime towed the stricken ''Niagara'' to shore, before taking two more seriously injured passengers aboard in order to return them to New York City for medical treatment.

Piermont and Poughkeepsie service, 1849–1850

By early 1849, the

New York and Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

had completed its line between

Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

and

Piermont, New York Piermont is a village incorporated in 1847 in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades, east of Sparkill, and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of t ...

, creating a demand for a more frequent steamboat service between Piermont and New York City. Thomas Powell & Co., which had a financial interest in the railroad, consequently decided to sell ''Thomas Powell'' to the line to help meet this demand, with the steamboat ''Roger Williams'' taking the ''Powell''s place on the Newburgh route. ''Thomas Powell'' was subsequently placed on a schedule of two round trips per day between the city and Piermont, leaving the former at 7 am and 4 pm daily. The steamboat ''Erie'' (formerly ''Iron Witch'') was also acquired by the railroad for the service. Passenger baggage was placed in barges towed by the steamers. ''Thomas Powell'' continued in this service for two seasons. By 1851, passenger travel on the river had declined due to the completion of the

Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

to Albany,Morrison 1903. p
160
and on May 12 of that year, the steamer was sold to Thomas Hulse, who placed her on a route between New York City and

. She remained in this service for only a few weeks however before being sold to the Newcastle and Frenchtown Turnpike & Railroad Company for service on the

Philadelphia to Cape May service, 1851–1856

After acquiring ''Thomas Powell'', the Newcastle and Frenchtown Turnpike & Railroad Company placed the steamer, along with the steamboat ''General McDonald'', on the Dayton 1925. pp
298–299
route between

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Cape May Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay fro ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, on the

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inlan ...

, in opposition to the old steamboats ''Ohio'' and ''Morris''. In addition to her regular trips on this route, ''Thomas Powell'' was also employed occasionally during this period as an excursion steamer. The steamer continued in this service until September 1855, when she was sold to parties in New York.

Saugerties, Poughkeepsie, Rondout and Catskill service, 1856–1863

''Mary Powell'' (pictured), ''Thomas Powell''s replacement on the Rondout route, retained the ''Powell'' name to capitalize on the high reputation of her predecessor By late 1855, ''Thomas Powell'' had come into the possession of Oscar Hoyt of New York, who returned her to service on the Hudson River, running between New York City and Albany. Though the steamer would remain in Hudson River service for the rest of her commercial career, she only briefly continued on the Albany route before being purchased in the winter of 1855 by Captain Absalom L. Anderson. left , upright=0.5 , Captain A. L. Anderson Anderson originally used ''Thomas Powell'' to replace the aging steamer ''Robert L. Stevens'', which he had been running on a route between New York City and his hometown of Saugerties. After only one season, however, he realized that the ''Powell'' was too large for the service, and in 1857 he switched her destination to Poughkeepsie.Ringwald 1954. p
163
''Thomas Powell'' remained on the Poughkeepsie route until 1858, when the citizens of Rondout, who had been deprived of a steamboat service since the withdrawal of the ''Alida'' in 1855, persuaded Anderson to extend his steamboat service the additional to their city. The initial run by the steamer to Rondout was made from Jay Street, New York, at 3:53 pm on April 24, 1858. ''Thomas Powell''s regularly scheduled service began two days later on the 26th, the vessel departing Rondout at 5:30 am Monday through Saturday, arriving at Jay Street at 11 am after the run, and leaving again for Rondout at 3:45 pm.Ringwald 1954. pp
163–164
The route thus established would be maintained, largely by Anderson and his sons, for the next sixty years (albeit with several different vessels).Ringwald 1954. p
164
In 1860, the new steamboat ''Daniel Drew'' appeared on the river, and Anderson realized that ''Thomas Powell'', previously among the fastest and best-appointed steamboats afloat, was on the verge of being outclassed by a new generation of vessels. He decided to order a new steamboat to replace the ''Powell'', but was unable to do so for another year due to other financial commitments, and his new steamboat, ''Mary Powell''—retaining the ''Powell'' name to capitalize on the high reputation of her predecessor—was not launched until August 1861. ''Mary Powell''s contract stipulated that she was to be faster by "one mile in twelve" than ''Thomas Powell'' or the builder was reportedly to forfeit $5,000—considered a bad bet by pundits given the latter's reputation for speed. Although she was not quite completed, Anderson attempted to rush ''Mary Powell'' into service, and she made her first voyage to Rondout on 12 October,Ringwald 1954. pp
165–166
but shortly after was replaced by her predecessor and would not run again until the following year.Ringwald 1954. p
166
''Mary Powell''s initial speed reached only , seeming to prove the skeptics correct, but the following year she was declared by her owner to be a faster boat on the Rondout run by an average of 30 minutes.Ringwald 1954. p
174
Following the end of the 1861 season, ''Thomas Powell'' was sold to the Catskill Steam Transportation Company for the sum of $35,000 () and in 1862, made her debut on the New York City to Catskill route. She would continue on this route until 1864.

American Civil War service, 1864

On April 12, 1864, ''Thomas Powell'' was chartered at the rate of $300 () per day by the United States Quartermaster Department for service in the

. She subsequently served as Major-General

Benjamin Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best ...

's dispatch boat, and participated in the Bermuda Hundred campaign. The steamer's charter expired on June 9, 1864.

Catskill and Troy service, 1864–1877

After the expiration of her USQMD charter, ''Thomas Powell'' returned to service with the Catskill Steam Transportation Company and resumed operation on the Catskill route, which she continued until 1872.Heyl 1965. pp. 318–319. That year, she was thoroughly overhauled and rebuilt, with her length increased by and staterooms added,Heyl 1965. p. 319. her registered tonnage thus increasing to 735. On June 5, 1872, she was purchased by the newly-formed Citizens Steamboat Company and placed on the route between New York City and

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, as a nightboat, her stablemate in this service being the steamer ''Sunnyside''. In 1875, ''Sunnyside'' was sunk by ice and replaced by the steamer ''Twilight''. ''Thomas Powell'' and ''Twilight'' continued operating on the Troy route until June 15, 1877, when the new steamer ''Saratoga'' replaced ''Thomas Powell'', which in turn was retained as a spare boat. In 1878, ''Thomas Powell'' was occasionally employed by the company as an excursion steamer, and in 1879, she briefly returned to the Rondout run to replace the steamboat ''Thomas Cornell'', which was in the process of being rebuilt.Ringwald 1946. p
284

Scrapping

After being laid up for about two years, ''Thomas Powell'' was scrapped in 1881 at

Port Ewen, New York Port Ewen is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 3,678 at the 2020 census. Port Ewen is in the Town of Esopus, south of Kingston, along U.S. Route 9W. History The prospect of fi ...

, "after thirty-five years of splendid service." That she retained her original name to the end of her career was considered a tribute to her enduring high reputation; it was also said of her that no steamboat "of her [

] inches" ever matched her speed. After her scrapping, her ship's bell was donated to the school board of Keyport, New Jersey, and used in the tower of the local high school. Her engine clock was acquired by marine engineer and historian George W. Murdock.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{cite magazine , last= Ringwald , first= Donald C. , date= July 1954 , title= Queen of the Hudson , magazine= The American Neptune , volume= 14 , issue= 3 , location= Salem, MA , publisher= American Neptune Inc , pages
163–166174
} OCLC 1480480 1846 ships Steamboats of the Hudson River Steamboats of the Delaware River Excursion steamboats Passenger ships of the United States